How I make my necks - part 2

I start with the 'shoulders' at the head end - rough shaping with a half round rasp, then on to the same with the heel:

Similar principle - although I start the heel by making a 45 degree angle cut with a mitre box so there's less wood to remove with the rasp. Then on to the rest of the neck:

Spokeshave for the basic shape

Then a rasp to round everything over

Then bastard files to get rid of all those nasty rasp scratches, and flat files to get rid of bastard file scratches :)

Before I begin sanding with the grain, I take a long strip of 60 grit (a sanding belt is good too) and run it up and down the neck using a 'shoe shining' approach - this is effective for both removing file scratches and ensuring a nice rounded profile to the neck. Just make sure you sand with the grain afterwards with the same paper to remove any cross-grain scratches!

Shape the top of the headstock and drill holes for tuners, then sand everything down to 320 grit, ensuring that all scratches and marks from previous abrasives have been removed. Now to lay in some frets:

Once my frets are cut to size, I use a one hand ratchet clamp to squash them in. Before laying in the frets, pass a triangle file over the fret slots - this will help the fret wire sit better. While they are in the clamp, I put a drop of superglue in either side under the tang to hold them in place when they are filed. I start with one clamp on either end of the fretboard, going on to the next while the glue sets, then meet in the middle.

Well Richey, I wish you had posted this 5 years ago then I wouldn't have had to figure out so much on my own! These 3 posts will be a great help to new builders and also to folks like me who've made a few but are open to new ways of doing things. Thanks!

I do the same thing, sorta, but flip my belt sander upside down in my Workmate, using 80 grit, then run the neck through a few passes until I get the shape roughed out. Takes me maybe 10 minutes from quarter to there. Then I rasp out any high spots, rasp out the heel and headstock curves, then start in with a rubber block sander with progressively finer grits to about 320. Then steel wool it, one more pass with the 320, and it doesn't even really need stain. I use two pieces of laminated 3/4" plywood, with the lams standing up.